Teen influencers get more… influential

You’ve probably seen the headlines about influential teens making thousands of dollars a day reselling their tweets to companies (if not, boy do we have some news for you).

But it’s not just corporations leaning on “influencer” marketing to boost their numbers, it’s entire governments.

And, as people and tech platforms alike rebel against branded content, the reach and influence of social media celebrities only continues to grow.

First it was “tweetdecking”…

AKA, secret groups of invite-only Tweetdecks (a twitter dashboard software) that allow users to coordinate mass retweets of their own content — or for companies and social climbers who pay them to do it.

Brands pay $5-10 per retweet, meaning these ringleaders can make up to $5k a month T-deckin’. All with one click of the mouse.

Then it was Singapore’s financial policy

Concerned with citizens’ lack of engagement with their 2018 budget plan, Singapore’s ministry of finance reportedly recruited 50 Instagram influencers to post beautifully curated selfies with captions about “inflationary pressure” to encourage people to give them feedback.

Kinda makes you miss the days when latte pictures didn’t have a political agenda…

The trend is only projected to grow

Changes to Facebook’s newsfeed will cut brands’ reach at the knees, while promoting content from individuals and public figures.